Page 56 - South Mississippi Living - October, 2024

AN ARTFUL LEGACY
F.E.B. DISTRIBUTING CELEBRATES MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY
Story by Cherie Ward
Photos courtesy of F.E.B. Distributing
A renowned distribution company has racked up nine decades of disbursing beverages to Gulf Coast eateries, businesses, and annual events, including the annual Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival.
F.E.B. Distributing has been a presenting sponsor for the Peter Anderson Festival since 2010. The fourth-generational Gulfport- based company is celebrating 90 years as an independent wholesaler of domestic, craft, and imported beer, wine coolers, flavored malt beverages, and light wine and spirits to more than 1,000 retail coastal customers.
Blue Moon souvenir cup.
“A business doesn’t get to a 90th
anniversary and four generations strong,
without the hard work of our hundred plus employees,” said Ryland Bertucci, vice president of sales. “They’re the ones out there grinding every day, and our family wouldn’t be where we are without their hard work. And having all the elements of a wonderful community, the values that were instilled in our generation from the ones that came before us, it’s a perfect trifecta.”
The distributor represents companies such as Constellation Brands, the manufacturer of Corona and Heineken as well as Molson Coors Beverage Company, the producer of Blue Moon beer, a Peter Anderson Festival
focal point. The Blue Moon Art Project started14 years ago thanks to the partnerships forged by F.E.B. Distributing with Molson Coors and the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce-Main Street-Tourism Bureau.
Each year, dozens of Mississippi artists craft and submit a Blue-Moon- themed painting with the hopes of winning the top prize and having their work displayed in the Ocean Springs Visitors Center and appearing on signage and souvenir cups in preparation for the next Peter Anderson Festival. These are the types of long-term relationships that are an important part of the Bertucci family legacy.
Their journey began in 1934 with founder and street-smart entrepreneur Salvador J. Bertucci building and maintaining a relationship with the Fabacher family who owned the New Orleans-based JAX Beer. Through the S.J. Bertucci Company, Salvador Bertucci made beer deliveries to local businesses as one of the first Magnolia State companies with a license to distribute beer. In 1946, the company became F.E.B. Distributing when his son, Frank, joined the family business.
“Each generation has had to work their way up through the business,” said Jeff Bertucci, vice president of operations. “We all started working as teenagers during the summers, pushing brooms in the warehouse,
56 | October 2024
F.E.B. Distributing started in 1934.
Matthew Hessell, Vice President of Technology; Ryland Bertucci, Vice President of Sales; Paul Bertucci, Executive Vice President; Frank Bertucci, CEO; and
Jeff Bertucci, Vice President of Operations.
Still going strong after 90 years.
and gradually moved up to other jobs. By the time we reached adulthood, we had done every job in the company. That not only gave us an appreciation for how hard our employees worked but fueled our passion and desire to one day lead the company.”
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